ISLAMABAD: The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) lauded Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for clearing pending refunds of Rs 23 billion, terming is a step which will encourage exporters and taxpayers.

“The government has fulfilled its promise to the business community for clearing their refunds dues where Refund Payment Orders were issued until April 30, 2017, said Atif Ikram Sheikh, Chairman FPCCI Regional Committee on Industries.

He said the business friendly PML-N government has always remained sensitive to the issues faced by the business community arising from stuck up refunds which is encouraging.

He said that exports have shown growth in the first month of the current fiscal by 10.6 percent while the payment of pending refund claims will boost external trade in the months to come.

Atif Ikram Sheikh said that tax collection has increased from Rs 1946 billion to Rs 3362 billion in last four years which indicates the hard work of the FBR team led by Ishaq Dar.

The government has taken some bold steps to eliminating tax exemptions and brought Rs 323 billion into the system but a lot is yet to be done as tax potential is not less than Rs 6000 billion, he added.

The business leader said that efforts were needed to reduce the size of the undocumented economy and increase the tax to GDP ratio up to 15 percent as the size of the GDP has crossed $300 billion dollar mark.

The liquidity problem of the taxpayers has been resolved to some extent and the government should to clear all the refund claims as soon as possible and also look into the matter of increased cost of doing business which is making our exports uncompetitive in the international market, he said.

He called upon increased warmth in relations between tax authorities and taxpayers which is vital for improving revenue generation without which economic growth cannot be achieved.

World Tribune Pakistan

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